About this title: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Heller's stirring novel that chronicles the friendship between two schoolteachers is now a major motion picture from Fox Searchlight, starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench.
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Description: Very Good. 0312426097 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780312426095ISBN:0312426097
Description: Acceptable. MAY HAVE COVER WEAR, SPINE CREASES, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING & PAGES YELLOWED FROM AGE. FASTER SERVICE FROM US! ! ! read more
"I'm not really sure what I was expecting with this book. I had a cold and had just finished reading a classic so I picked it up for something relatively easy yet entertaining to read. That is certainly what I got. The novel is extremely easy to read and the narrative flows brilliantly - I almost hadn't noticed how quickly I had devoured the pages. That said, the narrative was surprisingly sophisticated and more than a handful of times, I found myself reaching for the dictionary. The language certainly implies that the narrator has a reasonably good and wealthy upbringing, despite her protestations to the opposite and her shock at how 'upper class' Sheba spoke.
Although on the surface the novel is about a teachers illicit relationship with her pupil, I was more drawn into the relationship between the narrator and Sheba. I was intrigued by the Barbara's character, which seemed almost stalker-like and the relationship between Sheba and Connolly seemed only a veil under which to examine Miss Covett. I was amazed by such an educated woman's desperation to be needed and loved. I was fascinated by the way in which she went about gaining the friendship of Sheba, all the jealousies and 'clinginess'. In many ways, Barbara's feelings for Sheba were almost that of a lover rather than a friend - certainly this came across in the rivalry with the other female teacher. I was also interested in why exactly Sheba accepted Barbara's twisted sort of friendship, although I'm still not exactly sure why.
I must say, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel and how quickly I got through it. I would definitely recommend it."
"I never thought I would side with or empathize with such a manipulative character. It is obvious that Barbara Covett (such a fitting surname), wormed her way into the life of Sheba Hart in such a clever and subtle way that it seemed natural to Sheba, befriending someone in a new workplace.
Barbara's loneliness, bitterness and selfishness translate into tearing apart the life of her new friend. No one can deny that Sheba's actions were at the root of her own undoing, but Barbara's constant interference in her life, her meddling and her obsession with Sheba, were the thrust that set that first domino in motion.
Zoe Heller conveys Barbara's loneliness so succinctly; it's hard not to pity her. Barbara's life is empty and meaningless so she clings to the few friends she manages to make, manipulating them to the point where their lives become as empty as her own, until all they have left is each other to cling to.
In addition to the great plot and well developed characters, this book gives the reader some insight into the tangled confusion of illicit situations some adults find themselves in and the wily excuses they use to justify their actions. It's a great demonstration of gray in the world we want so desperately to perceive as black and white."
"This book is outstanding! A writer's tour-de-force. One of the best first-person narratives by a deranged character since Edgar Allan Poe. Page 197 and the first paragraph of page 198 contain the greatest testimony of human anguish that I've ever read. Brava Ms. Heller!"
"Barbara Covett, the narrator of Heller's novel, appears to be an opinionated but harmless, even kindly, older woman who has taken an interest in the naiive struggling new teacher Sheba. It is only as the novel progresses that the reader begins to realize Barbara's true nature, that she is in fact malicious, condescending, deceitful, conniving, and consumed with spite and hatred toward almost everyone she meets. Since she is the narrator, however, she relays her opinions of others as if they are not opinions, but facts, with which no reasonable person could possibly disagree.
Therein lies the delight of this novel-the unreliable narrator. The story itself is interesting enough and Barbara, with her venomous wit and scathing dissections of everyone else in the book, is a fabulous character. But it really is the position Barbara puts the reader in-trying to figure out how much of what she tells us is true, and how much the result of her twisted mind-that elevates Heller's book beyond a good read to absolutely brilliant. Barbara reminds me of Annie Wilkes in Stephen King's Misery. She is not quite the psychopath that Annie is, but has the same kind of logic-internally consistent and well-reasoned, while at the same time being kind of insane."
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